Latinos filling two of three construction jobs

The Business Journal of Phoenix - March 8, 2007by Adam KressThe Business Journal

Latinos make up 13.6 percent of the U.S. employment population, but accounted for 36.7 percent of 2006 U.S. employment growth, according to a study from the Pew Hispanic Center.

Most of the jobs Hispanic workers landed were in the construction industry, despite a slowdown in the housing market nationally and in major metros such as Phoenix, Las Vegas and Southern California. In fact, two out of every three new U.S. construction jobs went to Hispanic workers, according to the Washington, D.C. organization. "They benefited from strong employment growth in the industry even as the housing market endured a year-long slump," the report said.

Hispanic employment increased by almost 1 million from 2005 to 2006, with foreign-born Latinos who arrived since 2000 responsible for about 24 percent of the total U.S. employment increase.

The Pew Hispanic Center is a project of the Pew Research Center and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The center derived its estimates from Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data. For more: www.pewhispanic.org.

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There have been large losses of construction jobs because of the slump, BUT Latinos have INCREASED their construction employment. How many U.S. citizens were let go in order to hire cheap Latino labor????